


a hopeless case

by twohourstraffic



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Depression, Gen, Law School, i hope he's ok, the smh support team, where's shitty?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twohourstraffic/pseuds/twohourstraffic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shitty’s parents got divorced while he was at boarding school, in the middle of his dad’s company being investigated for fraud. So when the first three months of law school feel like the toughest of his life, he’s got a pretty high touchstone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a hopeless case

Law school sucks.

There’s no other way to put it.

Shitty thought he knew what he was getting into. He spent four years in undergrad, maintaining a decent average while playing a sport. He got good marks in school. His mom’s a professor, for fuck’s sake. He reads journal articles for fun.

But despite all of the odds being in his favour, law school just fucking _sucks_.

His Legally Blonde fantasies are quickly being replaced by dreams of sleeping more and eating proper food. Criminal law is complicated, contracts are impossible, torts are stupid. If he has to interpret any more statute, he’ll throw something out the window. If his mooting partner asks him for one more late night study session, he’ll scream.

He stumbles home from the library one afternoon and collapses on his bed. He knows he’s got a million things to do, can see the ever-expanding to-do list lying on his desk, but right now, becoming one with his mattress sounds like a better option than literally anything else.

* * *

**_group message: DKZ_ **

**Lardo:** Morning boys

 **Jack:** morning

 **Jack:** congrats on the win last night, it looked pretty epic

 **Jack:** wish i could have been there

 **Lardo:** Yeah it was amazing

 **Lardo:** I think the lines are really starting to fuse

 **Lardo:** About fuckin time tbh

 **Lardo:** You should see these taddies, they’re starting to come into their own

 **Jack:** i saw you’ve got one of them on bittle’s line

 **Lardo:** he deserves it, softest hands I’ve seen for a while

 **Jack:** oh fuck, i’ve got to get moving. say hi to the boys for me

 **Lardo:** will do

 **Shitty:** sorry guys, i was asleep

 **Lardo:** Everything OK, bud?

 **Shitty:** yeah everythings fine

 **Shitty:** gtg class is about to start

* * *

Shitty’s phone rings while he’s sitting on his bed, naked and dripping wet, trying to muster the energy to dry himself after his shower. He picks it up and looks at the caller ID.

Braces himself.

Puts on his most enthusiastic voice.

“Heyyyy,” he calls into the phone, dragging on the vowel much longer than intended. “How’s it going, Jack?”

“I’m fine, thanks. How are you?”

“I’ve been better, but I’m fine. It’s law school. It’s tough, you know?”

“Bitty told me you sound tired.”

“That’s probably because I _am_ tired. But it’s OK. I’m just doing my best to keep on top of things.”

He hears Jack breathe in and out, deeply. Like he’s doing a breathing exercise. “Just tell me you’re doing OK, Shits. And it’s alright if you’re not.” There’s a pause. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Shitty’s tempted for a second, he really is. He imagines how nice it would feel to just share everything he’s thinking and feeling. Or not feeling. Which is a scary prospect, that blatant honesty, but if anyone would understand, it would be Jack.

And that’s why he doesn’t say anything. He’s not going to be a source of stress in Jack’s life. The poor guy has enough of them.

“Seriously, brah. I’m fine.”

* * *

**_group message: DKZ_ **

**Lardo:** Happy Halloween!

 **Lardo:** Oh my god so Ransom is doing his very very best to stop Bitty from blasting Grim Grinning Ghosts in the kitchen

 **Lardo:** Apparently the ghosts like it too much, so they come and listen to it

 **Lardo:** And touch his butt

 **Jack:** i’d almost forgotten about the ghosts oh my god

 **Jack:** i hope they’re well

 **Lardo:** Wish you could have come up for the kegster, brah

 **Lardo:** We all miss you

 **Lardo:** What time are you getting here, Shits?

 **Shitty:** oh fuck i forgot to tell you

 **Shitty:** i have a million assignments to be working on so i won’t be able to make it

 **Shitty:** try not to have too much fun w/out me

 **Lardo:** :( :( :(

 **Lardo:** Miss you like woah

* * *

He wakes up.

He goes to class.

He goes home again.

He sleeps.

He tries to study.

He sleeps.

Sometimes, he remembers to eat.

* * *

**_group message: DKZ_ **

**Lardo:** Three months down!

 **Lardo:** How’s law school, champ?

 **Shitty:** yeah you know

 **Shitty:** it’s fine

 **Shitty:** i mean it’s rough but whatever

 **Shitty:** finals are coming up and stuff

 **Jack:** you ok man?

 **Shitty:** yeah i’m fine

 **Shitty:** how are you mr nhl hotshot?

 **Shitty:** sweet hatty the other day brah

* * *

Thursday is Hell Day. Well, most days are Hell Day, but Thursday deserves the title. Shitty’s got two classes in the morning and then one after lunch, as well as a study group in the evening. He used to go to the library between his lunch class and the study group, but recently he’s found himself heading back to his place to sleep. It just makes everything a little bit easier.

He heads home and makes his way into his room, ignoring two of his roommates playing some game in the living room. He throws his backpack in the corner, strips and falls asleep seconds after sliding under the sheets.

Hours later, he’s woken by a knock on his door. “Can I come in?”

“Fuck _off_ , Mark,” Shitty calls with a groan, face still pressed into his pillow. “I was asleep, man. It’s Thursday so I don’t have group until 6:30.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just … There’s someone here to see you.”

“If it’s Erin, tell her I’m working on the fuckin’ speech, OK? She can calm her tits, the moot’s not for a month. And you can quote me on that.”

Mark pauses before opening the door a crack, and sticking his head into the room. “Actually, it’s some guy. He says his name’s Jack?”

Shitty sits up so fast his head spins. “Wait, _Jack_ Jack? Tall, dark and handsome Jack? Weird accent but you forgive him because his ass is a thing of beauty Jack?”

“I honestly didn’t notice his ass, dude,” Mark says with a shrug, fiddling with his shirt buttons. “He sounds kind of French, if that helps.”

“What are you doing here, Jack?” Shitty calls from his bed. He’s not moving until class time or unless there’s a fire, whichever comes first. “I’m fine, bro.”

Suddenly Jack’s in his doorway, politely thanking Mark and then closing the door, plunging them both into almost-darkness. Shitty can hear the sound of shoes being kicked off, and then the edge of his mattress sinks.

“What are you doing, man?”

Jack lies down next to him, sliding himself closer until they’re almost spooning, but facing each other. Shitty reaches forward to place a kiss on Jack’s forehead, then moves back again. Jack comes towards him, bumping their foreheads together. They don’t say anything for a long time. Shitty almost falls asleep, before Jack breaks the silence.

“I’m going to ask you some questions, and I’d really like it if you answered them honestly. OK?

“OK.”

“When’s the last time you showered?”

“I don’t know. Today’s Thursday? Maybe … Monday?”

“How many times a day are you eating?”

“Maybe two? One or two, anyway.”

“How many hours a day are you sleeping? Including naps.”

“Bud, I just –”

“Please, just answer the question?”

“… Maybe fourteen. Sixteen? It depends.”

Jack’s voice gets quieter. “When’s the last time you cried?”

“I … I don’t remember.”

And, honestly, that’s the thing that makes him realise. Shitty has always been an easy crier – Pixar films, airline commercials, romantic comedies. But he hasn’t cried for months.

“Jack, I – I think I might be depressed.”

“Yeah, man. I know.”

* * *

Shitty throws a few clean shirts, some underwear and a toothbrush into a plastic bag and spends the next week on Jack’s couch, watching TV or staring at the ceiling. Jack brings him food at regular intervals and makes sure he showers, and when Jack goes on a roadie, Lardo comes to stay for a few days, arriving with food from Bitty and love from the team.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

She nods, mouth tight, and they watch another episode of Extreme Couponing.

Shitty knows he can’t run away from his responsibilities forever, but he’s just too tired, too overwhelmed to work out where to start.

So he starts small.

He calls the college counselling service and begs Lardo to come to his first appointment, and she hugs him and tells him she would have come anyway. She holds his hand as they walk there, and waits outside for him, and buys him a coffee when he’s done. She listens when he wants to talk and sits silently when he doesn’t.

He goes to the wellbeing office to work out what to do and organise special consideration, and ends up spending two hours talking to a law-grad-turned-counsellor who knows exactly what he’s going through. He feels like it’s unkind to find it reassuring that other people have gone through this. Are going through this.

But it is.

It doesn’t get easier. Not for a while. But he does his best.

**Author's Note:**

> If you’ve got any to spare, please send some good vibes into the universe for my law school thesis which is being neglected so I can project my angst onto these losers.
> 
> Oh, and come say hi on [tumblr](http://murrayhewitt.tumblr.com) if you so desire :)


End file.
